PUBG Developer Krafton Teams Up With Solana Blockchain, Likely to Add Crypto and NFT Twist to Games

PUBG-developer Krafton has struck a deal with Solana Labs, stirring up rumours about its potential plans to add crypto and NFT elements to its games. As part of the partnership, Krafton has secured official rights to build blockchain games on Solana networks. These games are likely to have a metaverse feel, supporting interactive digital avatars along with crypto-related rewards and services. The deal comes under the backdrop of Krafton accelerating its efforts to keep with the emerging Web 3 sector.

South Korea-based Krafton and US-based Solana Labs will be collaborating to design games as well as explore opportunities to invest jointly in the blockchain industry, the Korea Economic Daily reported on Wednesday, March 23.

“We are actively pursuing partnerships with companies and communities that have demonstrated impressive technological development, like Solana, to create a Web 3 ecosystem,” the report quoted an anonymous Krafton spokesperson as saying.

Solana was launched in 2020 as a competition of Ethereum. While Ethereum offers a more developed blockchain system, Solana boasts of higher efficiency. Its native token is SOL, that currently has a market cap of $29 billion (roughly Rs. 2,23,130 crore).

As per its latest Energy Use Report, Solana claimed that two Google searches consume more energy than a single Solana transaction.

The blockchain network was recently picked by EDM festival Tomorrowland to support its NFTs.

PUBG, which reportedly touched the 70-million-users mark in July 2020, could soon be connecting its large userbase to the deeper levels of virtual reality.

The blockchain gaming industry grew by 765 percent in 2021, a Forbes report claimed in January this year.

Last month, crypto exchange FTX announced the launch of FTX Gaming, a “crypto as a service” platform, aimed at enabling gaming companies to create tokens and provide support for NFTs to customers.

Zynga, the San Francisco-based online and mobile game developer, best known for FarmVille and CSR Racing games, has also announced plans to get into blockchain gaming.

A DappRadar report had recently said that a whopping 804,000 unique active players connected to blockchain-based games in July 2021.